weekend.

>> well, it was... gorgeous day. the president arrived just as usual, for an a two-tiered event, a reading event to a classroom and a larger event in the gentleman about education. >> welcome aboard. it's fox & friends, 2 after 8:00 in the east. 2 after 5:00 in the west. >> it was just a regular, regular day. i started my day at bryant park. >> if you have something a little extra. >> there is a great item on the front page ttalks about how the early -- >> president bush is in florida, encouraging reading programs. >> california grand jury has decided against investigating gary condit. >> tell me from brunswick, maine, our pet of the day! we are taking a timeout and a

preview of the latest fall tv show. this is fox friends, we are nuts about nuts! >> i was on the battle cabin. we were starting an exercise. we have a couple of those a year. because of the exercise, we had the fighters on alert, with a little extra gas, more weapons on board than they normally would. >> the morning of the 11th, i received a call from an individual who i assumed was the exercise coordinator, asking if we had gotten a notification of a hijack situation. approaching from the northeast. >>ime number 3 on flight 11. >> okay? >> the cockpit is not answering their phone. >> i am number 1, got stabbed.

our person is stabbed. nobody know who is stabbed who and we can't get to business class because nobody can breathe... >> a note was handed to me as we were coming out of our video teleconference. boston center has a suspected hijacked airplane. i have put the f-15s at otis international guard base on battle station. and i said, scramble them, we will hold them over the water until we get the permission that is necessary. a hijacked airplane, we know nothing about it at all. don't know where it is. do not know where it is. >> what's going on, betty?

betty, talk to me? betty? are you there? [sirens] >> we just had planes crash into the world trade center. the world trade center tower number 1 is on fire. the whole outside of it. >> we have a very tragic alert for you right now. an incredible plane crash into the world trade center here at the lower tip of manhattan. >> it's believed a 737 has crashed into this. speckizing that three floors taken out, crashed into the side of the building. joining us, one of the producers with fox report on the scene. owen, what do you know? what do you see? >> reporter: i'm on the roof of my building, five blocks south of the world trade center. i am looking eye am looking right now at the world trade center. there is a massive, gaping hole on the second tower. it's about... about... 15 stories from the roof. it is -- it is just unbelievable to looka at.

there is a massive hole. >> where's the fire? >> i'm on the 106th floor of the world trade center, we just had an explosion up here. >> okay. 106th floor? what building are nu, one or two? >> 1 world trade. you can see the smoke from outside the windows. >> okay. just sit tight. just sit tight. we're on the way. >> all right. please, hurry. >> the plane obviously went in on one side and came out the other. this is horrible. >> right now, let's hand it over to john scott. you can see the smoke, the smoke tower is growing. there is quite a bit of flame inside the building. >> i was just walking into the studio that day and i wear this wireless ifb, we call t. i heard a very urgent voice get in my air and say, john scott, stud bow "b," now! it was just 2 minutes later we

got the pictures up from the fox 5 helicopter. i mean, what could you say? the two hours are home at least during the day to upwards of 50,000 workers. >> yes, i understand that. >> we have no real floors on fire t. looks like the plane was aiming towards the building. >> i was on the 67th floor when the first plane hit. it took me a second or two to catch my breath. >> i am walking on "b" floor, going toward the parking lot. all of a sudden... the whole floor, the whole building just rocked. it just rocked and threw you and just threw you. ure didn't know what happened. >> at 8:46, when boom! there is a loud explosion, noise, somewhere. didn't know exactly where. i all i saw, right up against the glass was fire, flame. just a big fireball.

[sirens] >> i am looking at something and all of a sudden, it's ripped like it's paper because of whatever just passed through there and then this big heat comes blowing through the corridor that i am in and then... then there's silence. >> for no apparent reason, i just turned and looked toward jersey, over the hudson and i see fireballs falling down from the sky. i don't know what's happening, what is going on. >> these are coming to you live now. debris raining down from 110 flower floors up. as you can see, this is a clear blue-sky day in manhattan. if this was an accident, it would be a needle in a haystack kind of accident. [sirens]

>> i was actually in new york, in my office, like everyone else -- or most other people, i thought: my god how could this possibly happen? but never suspected the magnitude of what was facing us. >> i was in my office, with my speech writer and secretary called in to say that a plane had hit the trade center. turned on the television and then sat there wondering, how could an airplane hit the world trade center, it's a clear sky, no weather problems. how do you account for this? >> it's one of those normal tuesday mornings. i was standing at my desk, getting ready for my staff meeting downstairs and my second assistant walked in and said a plane had hit the world trade center. immediately, my mind went to perhaps a twin-engine plane of some kind. i said, well that's a terrible accident. >> i was leaving the motorcade and i got a page, saying the world trade center had been hit by an airplane. the president was shaking hands, going into the school and karl

rove got to the president first and said that a plane had hit the world trade center. the president went directly into a holding room. >> i called the president and said, mr. president, a plane has hit the world trade center. he says, that's a strange accident. i said that i would call him back when we had more information. >> first moments, i called mayor jeweliany -- giuliani and got ahold of him. right after that, i called the president. he was at florida at the educational conference. i was able to get him out of the conference and urge him to shut down the air space over new york. >> the walk-down was very calm. people in the staircase were well behaved. they were calm. occasionally, somebody would become arches, but somebody else would say, it's okay. we are doing fine. we have around the mid 20s, we began to see fireman walking up the stairs, for the people

walking down, the sight of the fireman was a very calming experience. when i got into the lobby, and i could see the full impact. >> now you hear silence. and it's a dead calm of dust and smoke and all of a sudden, you hear people slowly somebody starts screaming, someone starts yelling and you are hearingue are hearing help. you are hearing, please. you are hearing very -- one at a time you are hearing it. it just started and then all of a sudden, everybody started screaming and coming out, what happened?! what happened?! >> i jumped up, grabbed my flashlight from the credenza, put a whistle around my neck and ran out of my private office into the larger office and said, come on, everybody, let's go. there has been an explosion upstairs, we have to move. let's get out of here. >> the elevator came, we went downstairs. we were on the ground floor now, about to get through the turnstile. the security guard asked us,

where are you going? i said, well, i saw fireballs coming. we're going out of here. no. go back to your office. the building is secure. it is safe. >> there was an announcement. strobe lights flashed, siren whooping a little bit and this very clear announcement, building 2 is secure. well, that took a little bit of pressure off. i went for a walk to the east floor, which is where our trading floor is and walked up to the north wall. and there were hay lot of our people against the glass, looking up to their left. you could see the north tower. and very sadly, at that moment, what they were looking at was people jumping. >> it was all smoke and fire and the walls were caving -- you couldn't see the exist exits. you couldn't see the exit. you couldn't get back into tower one. i am saying, let's go. it looks like a clear shot, home. you are going towards building 2. whoever can make it, let's go. >> i am at 9500. >> do you know who it is?

>> we don't know. we are picking him up now. >> heads up. it looks like another one. >> are you there? diagram >> i had two messages lot of my answering machine. one just saying, stayce, it's me, pick up because we screened our calls all the time. that was 8:59 and another one at 8:54. it was him again, letting me know that i was going to be hearing on the nude -- news that the other tower had been hit. >> everyone's okay, but it's

pandemonium. give me a call when you get this, okay? goodbye. >> he was eye level with tower 1 and watching people jump to their death and to know that he was about to die, there is pain and suffering. >> north side of the building, heavy smoke's all over the top of the building. >> i stepped off the elevator on 78. two steps and the plane hit. had no idea what it was. the walls just disintegrated. flames shot out. so, a few minutes after this happened, it was obobvious that this was something a lot worse than what i originally thought it was. >> 10th floor, we have units on the way up. there is a fire on the 78th floor, uncorm confirmed. >> i worked my way over to what i guess was the main exit stairwell. i was probably in the middle of the building. somewhere in the middle of the tower. and started going down, 78

floors. we heard another noise and the building shook again -- not as much as the first time. it had to be the second plane hitting the other tower. somewhere in the 30s. 30s or 40s, the first fireman and policemen started coming up. i finally made it down to the ground floor. we came out right in front of the ploughsa, which is the area between the two towers, where the fountain is. that was horrible. that was a war scene. there were fires, there was a debris falling from both tower, dead bodies, right in front of the window, right in front of me, there was a body strapped to an airplane seat. >> there was another one. we just saw... we just saw another one. we just saw another one, apparently go... another plane just flew into the second tower. this raises -- this has to be deliberate, folks. we just saw on live television,

as a second plane flew into the second tower of the world trade center. now, given what has been going on around the world... some of the key suspects come to mind, osama bin laden. >> my first ipstinct was, what is going on? how many planes are there? where are they coming from? who are they? who do i call? i am the police commissioner, i have 55,000 people who work for me. and i am -- we are prepared for anything you could imagine. this was something you couldn't imagine. >> back down, back to my desk and the phone is ringing again. this time, it's a young lady from chicago, hey, are you okay? fine. for no apparent reason, mid-sentence, just having to raise my head, straight toward

the statue of liberty, i am seeing a big giant aircraft gray with a red letter on the wing and the tail, comes straight -- eye contact, eye level towards me. the next thing i knew, i dove under my desk, huddled in a fetal position, screaming, crying and the plane crashed in the building n. the plane came straight toward me and the bottom wing is wedged in my office door, 20 feet from where i was, under the desk. >> i know whatever blew up tblew out in the shaft, elevator cables snapped. when you hear a 20,000-40,000-pound elevator shaft and you hear people screaming and you don't hear them screaming, you be whatever was there just died. >> you have a second plane into the other tower of the trade trade and a fire. >> 9:03 or whatever time it was,

boom, boom, a double explosion. i learned later it was the plebe hitting the building and then exploding. and for the next 10 seconds. i was terrified. >> the impact was so great and the sound that it made was so loud that i got temporarily deaf. i couldn't hear anything. it looked lick a demolition crew came in and knocked everything over. >> the building just kn continued to move, left, left, left toward the hudson river, a long, long way. it felt like yards. whether it was or not. i don't know. the sensation was we are going too far. we're going to fall over. something's happened and i knew in an instant it was terrorism. and the room just fell apart on that second explosion. >> station 1, be advised, reports of a second plane that crashed into the second tower about two-thirds of the way up.

>> walls tore in jagged angles, door frames fell out of the walls, it was a mess. but it was as if someone had opened a concrete sack and waved in the air, yellow and white dust everywhere. >> i am crying, saying, "lord, i don't want to die. i don't want to die here, i have two little children. please, lord, save me. send somebody -- anybody to help me." >> the building swayed and then it came back to vertical and sheen then i snapped out of it, sobered up and turned on my flashlight. e >> in that small-tier ehaven't, the classroom, i got a second page, a second tower had been hit. right away, i knew it was terrorism. shortly after i got that page, andy card walked in and said, the second tower had been hit. america is under attack. i put my back to the press pool. i wrote on a legal pad and i said, don't say anything yet.

and i held it up for the president to see. >> wendall is in sarasota, traveling with the president. wendell, what's the reaction from the president? >> reporter: john, the president is here, promoting a reading initiative on the second day of a two-day trip to florida. he just finished reading to children at an elementary school and was asked about the incident. he said he was aware of it and that he would have something to say about it later. >> i'm going to die. >> ma'am, ma'am. say your prayers. we are going to stay positive. have you to help each other get off the floor. >> i don't want to die. i don't want to die. >> stay calm. stay calm, stay calm. >> please, godful. >>

>> both towers are burning. both have apparently been hit by aircraft. >> my first reaction was to get down to the scene as fast as i could. as i was driving down... emergency vehicles were going, obviously, flying down to the scene. i jumped behind a police car and drafted it all the way down and pretty much got 2 blocks from the scene. >> very first thing we do dwe got some establishing shots. i got close to the tower and was shooting t. but it was so tall that i had to keep backing up to get a better shot. >> when i got the first tight shots, i realized what was happening at the top of the towers. i look up and people start shouting, they're jumping. i look up, just in time to see someone leap from what must have

been the 108th floor. >> ridiculous. people are jumping. >> they really must have felt like they had no other choice that. decision that they made... remains for me the most horrifying part of the twhoal tragedy. >> i realized there were jumpers and people lining up in the window wells. and i... i shot the first two that i saw. and then turned off my camera because... i was overcome with emotion, actual lie. >> you are conscious of what is happening, but it's sort of -- looking through the view finder is an insularity. it's black and white. it is not color. >> i think they knew early on,

they weren't going to be able to put the fire out. they wanted to get rescuers there as yikely as possible, as high as possible. not concerned about the fire at that point. >> i heard a banging and a voice screaming for help, help, help, i'm buried! is anybody there? i can't breathe. >> please, don't leave me to die. somebody help me. >> a stranger's voice, no, this way, come over here. >> even though he was responding, i couldn't hear. so i tried to get up and i realized i was covered up to my shoulder in debris. i could peek through the rubble and i saw the bottom starts to burn and my greatest fear that was the flame was going to ignite the fuel tank and it was going to explode and i was going to die. so i crawl the entire length of the loans department, through the lounge, into the computer room, into the communication room. i couldn't go further because there was one sheet rock wall

blocking myself. he said, jump over and i am going to grab you. i and got up from that and i started punching, kicking as hard as i can, until a little hole appeared in the sheet rock. i said, i see your hand. just yank me through, i said. and i jumped and i grabbed and i stuck my head through. >> i reached in -- nothing happened. i said, you must do this. up he went again. i reached in and somehow got under his arm or grabbed onto something and i lifted him up and over this barrier and we fell in a heap on the floor. >> this man -- he just gave me a headlock, with all of his might. he just pulled. and just yanked me right through that wall. it was like a superman, yanked me through and i fell on top of him. i gave him a big hug and a kiss and i said, you are my guardian angel. my lord sent you to save me. >> we started down the stairs. the inner wall had blown in.

we could look through the scprax you could see flames licking up the other side of the wall as we went down. >> we stopped because i couldn't breathe. i couldn't walk down. i was cut, bloody, bruised and the leg wound was opening up. >> we went as low at the 44th floor. i know that's like an empty hotel lobby, until a security guard, manning his booth looked at us wide eyed, and rather surprised and said, i need a telephone. he said, my phones don't work, but i will stay thisw this man, if you get me help. >> he was lying, his back was broken, he was covered with blood. please, tell my wife and my baby i love them. but send member for me. a security guard stood like a hawk, guarding that man. that man sacrificed his life, guarding this man because while we were going down, no ems worker came up. >> stanley called his wife at his office, missed her and left messages that he was fine. i called 911 and after some

difficulty, it took 3 or 4 minutes to get the message across that there was somebody down on the 44th floor. i know they were overwhelmed. but we went back to the stairs and all the way down to the plaza level, without seeing a soul. nobody. on the plaza level, we stared in awe at the -- at the plaza, where the fountain is normally flowing and there is people coming and going. we know nothing about hijacked airplanes about the pentagon, none of this. we are ignorant of all these facts. >> we got down to the ground floor, cops and firefighters and ems workers were there. dibrae was falling down, it looks like confeto a ticker-tape parade. they were tellingitous run, just go. run, run, run, run. they stayed back. sacrificing themselves so that brian and i could live. >> all units, by citywide order,

all off-duty firefighters and off-duty officers are hereby recalled. by order of the city, all off-duty firefighters and all off-duty officers are ordered by recall immediately. >> president bush is about to speak in florida at what was supposed to be a joyous event in an elementary school. >> ladies and gentlemen, this is a difficult moment for america. i unfortunately will be going back to washington after my remarks. secretary pace and the lieutenant governor will discuss education. i want to thank the folks here at booker elementary school for their hospitality. today, we have had a national tragedy. two airplanes have crashed into the world trade center in an apparent terrorist attack on our country. i have spoken to the vice-president, to the governor of new york, to the director of

the fbi. and i have ordered the fathe full resources of the federal government go to help the victims and their families, and to conduct a full-scale investigation to hunt down and to find those folks who committed this act. terrorism against our nation will not stand. and now, if you join me in a moment of silence... may god bless the victim, their families and america. thank you very much. >> we saw the second airplane fly into the south side of the world trade center. so we decided to scramble the f-16s out of langry air force base. >> traffic is crawling along, looking at the radio, they are talking about how the washington, d.c. is also on

high-alert status because that might be the next target. >> i walked into the states building, a group of people were sitting around the television, ready for our meetings. >> after the rush hour would have ended. yet, i got stuck in rush-hour-like traffic on the road, just to the west of the pentagon. >> we got a call that american airline 77 was a potential hijacked aircraft. >> as we sat down to have a meeting for this client, one of the people said, well, barbara olson won't be here because she's on a plane to california. >> the plane took off at 8:10 in the morning, or that's when it was scheduled. i had been in my office at the department of justice. one of the gals in my office came in and said, barbaray on the phone. i was at first relieved to hear barbara on the it'll telephone because panic strikes immediately. her next words out of her mouth were, ted, my plane's been

hijacked. >> we are watching all of these aircraft and trying to determine where they are. >> we are putting them back to scpliews they can put in wherever they want. [loud commotion]. >> american 1060?

>> the pilot announced that the plane had been hijacked, shortly after takeoff. bithis time, the plane had been in the air for over an hour. she implied that they had been circling around for a while. she and the other passengers had been herded to the back of the airplane. i asked her whether they, the hijackers, knew that she was calling. she said, no, they don't know. she indicated that they had used knifes and box cutters to take over the plane. at some point, we got cut off. i immediately called the command center of the department of justice to let them know my wife was on a plane that had been hayeked. >> i keep driving and i notice the plane coming in, really fast and really low and i noticed the silver, american airlines jetliner, obviously a passenger plane, a pretty big one. >> i told her in the first conversation that the two hijacked plane his hit the world trade center. her instinct was, what can i do? what shall i tell the pilot?

i asked her where she was. she tried to tell me where she was and what direction. >> flight 77 made a left turn, heading back after it was hijacked. they came back over washington fairly high and then he did a left descending turn, which gave him good visual visibility of the pentagon. >> i heard it before i saw it. i looked up and then directly in front of my field of vision, parallel to the ground, i saw a jet airplane with the silver paint job with the red, white and blue stripes underneath the windos. it was -- windows, it was clearly an american airlines passenger jet roaring by. >> we did not know where that aircraft was. and then just moments later, that aircraft hit the pentagon. and of course, our aircraft are headed towards washington, d.c., are well south of there. at that time, they were not yet

over washington, d.c. >> it didn't veer from its course at all. it was like a missile, right into the side of the pentagon. >> then a huge fireball popped, you know, comes up in the air. there is all kinds of smoke coming out. i could feel the impact of the explosion and the ground really shook. even though my windows were up in the car, i could feel the heat. >> david is joining us from fox central. >> john, we are hearing right now of another explosion has taken place at the pentagon. we have the heart of the feb. financial district of america being attacked. now we understand that there is an explosion or has been an explosion in the pentagon. >> i began to hear reports of the explosion at the pentagon. i knew in my heart that was -- that aircraft.

>> it was instantaneous, just a very loud noise. the lights went out. everything in black. very heavy smoke and debris piled on top of me. i am pinned in my chair at my desk. >> there is a pile of debris and i saw what looked like a face. i am pretty sure it couldn't be an alive person. i thought i saw a blink. i yelled for help. from outside came the commander. >> it feels like a furnace in there. couldn't believe there was anyone alive and i saw captain thomas who was trying to pull debris and i looked off to my side and i saw mr. henson, about 10 feet away. inside this kind of cave of debris. already, my uniform's starting to melt. my shoes are starting to melt. i am really, really eager for him to get out of there. but he says he can't budge.

so out of desperation, i laid on my back underneath him and put my feet on the debris over his head and i leg pressed as hard as i could. >> me pushing with my back and him pushing up with his legs, he managed to get most of the debris up far enough to extricate himself from this huge pile of rub they'll pinned him to his desk. >> i think it took about 30 minutes. i didn't think i had very much time left when the rescue team came in. >> we couldn't get everybody else. people are still in there. >> my boss didn't make it. a section didn't make it. >> d.c. fire units going to plan "e," an emergency plan which requires all off-duty personnel to report back immediately. >> they are trying to evacuate

the white house. >> the white house is being evacuated. that comes to us from one of our fox producers in washington. the white house is being evacuated. the pentagon as well. >> you have to pack up. >> a plane was hijacked 20 minutes south of here and they are head to the capitol. >> now! >> jim, are you with us? >> the streets around the white house were blocked, seconds ago. there are emergency vehicles on almost every block around the white house and the white house is being evacuated. federal employees are standing on the street corners in and around the white house, having left the building for fear of another attack. >> get back! get back! we have another in-bound plane. >> they brought me out and i could see people running. people were crying, hurry up and get these people out! there is another one right behind. they must have had input on the pennsylvania airplane. >> by now, we are firmly up on target, over washington, d.c. and watching united 93 now start

very gradually to take up a flight path right towards washington, d.c. and we were very concerned at that time. >> all right. >> as it started moving towards washington and we had six teams over washington, d.c., i was probably energized to start moving those fighters towards that aircraft. decided it would be wiser to keep the f-16s over washington, d.c., in case another aircraft was coming in from a flight we didn't see yet. >> decided to grab him and said, sir, we have to leave now. there is no chance for a debate. he propelled me out of the

office, into the underground. we got down to the place, a tunnel, that is protected. so when i got down into the tunnel, we saw that the pentagon had been hit. and i called the president. he he was headed for the airport in florida and i urged him not to return to washington because washington was under attack. >> flight 93 was the only aircraft that we could see on our radar at that particular time. it was either slightly before or right around the time that the american airlines 77 had hit the pentagon. and we could see this aircraft, flying around, up in the ohio and pennsylvania area. >> united airlines called me and told me,ed to had made a phone call to an operator, he had initially called just to report a hijacking. he felt at that time that this was a situation where the hijackers were going to return them to the report and there was a demand to be made.

>> i heard mark's voice saying i am on a flight from from newark to san francisco, there are three guys on board who have taken over the plane and they say they have a bombing. i am calling you from the air phone. and then there was a long pause. mom, you believe me, don't you? i aid -- said, mark, yes, i believe you. who are these guys? there was another long pause. then mark's voice came back on the line and he said, you believe me, don't you, mom? i said, yes, mark. i believe you. who are those guys? then we were disconnected. >> you have reached the mobile voice message i. mark, this is your mom. the news is that it has been hijacked by terrorists, they are planning to probably use the plane as a target to hit some site on the ground. i would say go ahead do everything you can to overpower them because they are hell bent. try to call me back if you can. >> he told me immediately that he was on a plane that had been hijacked and he gave me a few details of what was going on and told me it call the authorities.

and he hung up. >> i said, do you know who is flying the airplane? i said, no, i don't. we have been herdzed to the back. >> he knew there were two people at the front of the airplane who had been hurt. they had pulled the curtain to first class so he couldn't sigh what was going on. on the second phone call, i told him immediately that the world trade center had been hit and other airplanes had been hayeked. he paused and told the people sitting around him. he was alarmed alarmed and then, my god, it's a suicide mission. the plane turned around and started to dip and things and they changed their course back to washington. >> the third phone call, i told him about the pentagon. he told me at that point that he was putting a planning to the take back the airplane. i asked who was helping him. and he said, there is a group of us. >> we are back here getting hot water together to throw on them. do you have any other ideas for us? they were going to brush the hijacker with the bomb and attempt to get into the cockpit.

he said, that's what we have to do. it wasn't long after that that... she heard him say, ask the men around him. are you ready. >> we are running to first class. i've got to go. goodbye. >> he said, "let's roll." that was the last he said. >> we know that the passengers made a rush on the cockpit and thwarted the hijackers. we know that because the cockpit voit voice recording is that they knew that there was a movement afoot in the back and their moments were numbered up front. someone heard on the cockpit voice recording, they're coming, they're coming. there was a tremendous thrashing around of dishes and carts, back and forth. >> this plane was at least 30 degrees if not more and rapidly went to -- 45 degrees, the other way and rocking back and forth. so my guess, there was a fight going on and the airplane was

rolling to the right and to the left, to the right and to the left. >> we heard blood screams happening more or less. i don't believe it was the passengers who were screaming. >> they were rolling violently, rolling back and forth. >> the hijackers were panicked. they were talking with each other, do you want me to end it now? and i believe that that was their signal that, hey, we are going to crash now because we are about to lose control of this airplane. >> i am absolutely convinced that that fourth plane would have hit the capitol, but for those heros in pennsylvania. >> united 9-3, doif information on that? >> yeah, he's down. >> he's down? when did he land -- >> he did not land. >> oh, he's down. >> yes... >> authorities at the somerset county airport confirm a large plane crash about 80 miles southeast of pittsburgh. have you to assume that it's

related to all of these goings on. >> i told brian, i said, this is the lord's doing. i am going to trinity church. he said, look, i'm coming with you. and together, we grabbed each others' hand and we just started to run. surprising enough, not even one piece of confetti or broken glass touched us. the next thing i know, we bumped into a priest. >> that's where stanley broke down and he looked at me and he said this, man saved my life. and i said, to stanley and maybe you saved my life, too. he said, you know, i think that tower could go down. i said, there is no way. i said, that's steel. that's a steel structure. and i didn't finish the sentence... >> we started to run. we heard a strange sound like steel bending and creeking. creaking. and the building started to implode like a pancake effect.

>> we set up to go live, within a minute or two after he got the camera hooked up and we set up to go, reporting in the street, that's when the first tower fell. >> we heard the rumbling of thunder, but it wawbts as loud as i expected it to be. >> holy [bleep]! [sirens] >> what shot is that? >> oh, my god, look, look, look, look! look! point that way! oh, my god. >> just as i was about to come up, as i was going up the stairwell, the building started shaking up, up and down, a couple of feet in either direction and finally, i said, hit the deck. >> we are on church street. we are not sure what happened. there has been a huge explosion.

everyone's running for their lives -- literally. police, media. i see a woman pushing a baby carriage. here comes the smoke [sirens] >> i couldn't see anything because of awrlt dust, all the lights were out. >> after the south tower fell, that was the first time the panic set in, realizing the south tower was hit second and fell first. now you really had to worry about getting people out of the tower as quickly as possible. >> i pushed up and out and realized i was still alive. i didn't know if i was alive or not. >> the whole tower! >> holy crap! >> they knocked the whole freaking thing down.

>> here comes the smoke. it's unclear what happened, if the tower collapsed or what. i think we better get out of this mess, dude. i think we better get out of this. >> we jumped in the truck with the camera and left an inch or two crack in the door with the cable. we decided to try. >> oh, my god. >> we might die here together. you and me. you all right? [coughing]. >> we were in the dark, literally. it was frightening. it was a frightening moment... to have no connection to the outside world and have no idea what was going to happen next. >> we should be the be here. should we? >> everybody else [bleep] ran -- cops. everybody. >> i don't know what to do. assignment danger, bro. [sirens] >> get out of the building!

get out of the building. >> john, the scene isor -- the scene is horrific. one of the towers literally collapsed. while talking to an officer, questioning me about my press credentials, we heard a very loud blast and explosion. we looked up and the building literally began to collapse before us. there was debris falling, i'd say, three-quarters the height of the building. people and the entire perimeter began literally, including myself, running out of breath to run for our lives. this is, we believe, debris from one of the planes that hit one of the towers in the world trade center. the fbi is here, as you can see, they roped the area off. they were taking photographs and securing the area, just prior to that huge explosion that we all heard [sirens] >> everything just all of a sudden just imploded. i ran as fast as i could and then all of a sudden, the

building started to fill up with smoke. you couldn't get out of the building because everything was locked up. and i came out and everything was filled with ashes. >> can anybody hear me! i'm a civilian! i am trapped inside one of the fire truck, underneath. >> what happened? you were right there in the building? >> yes. >> you all right? >> a lot of people trapped. >> e.m.t. >> guy needs help. you can talk to us for a minute? how do you feel? you all right? >> no, not at all. >> i feel bad approaching these

people. i mean, they are covered. they are obviously in pain. [sirens] >> and the place where that plane hit, the outer wall of the building and the building is a series ever concentric rings, so when you hit the outer wall, you are only affecting that part of t. but those walls are down and you can see the gutted areas. >> the whole place, everything came down. couldn't see. couldn't breathe. terrible. i never seen nothing like it. i went through vietnam, i never seen anything like this. >> can they go in, based on the conditions of the building? >> somebody's going to have to. that's what we get paid for. soongz as soon as we heard the explosion, we ran out of new york supreme court and jumped on the jury bus and came here.

>> back it up! back it up! >> all right. here we go again. here we go again. i don't know what's going on. but this -- the second building is collapsing, i believe? i don't know. i don't know. but this -- this happened before. >> come on, back up. fine. we will. we can see the top of the building from here. >> oh, yeah. oh, there it goes, there it goes, there it goes! oh, when it comes down -- we need to put it down now. we need to put it down now. here we go. >> the second tower, everybody's life in there. >> you think you die three times and people are screaming, the building's coming down. and then you feel the rumbling of the floor down the westside highway. you are thinking, you think it's going -- something's going to

fall on you. you think you are going to die. >> fear and concern going. that's what make its such an heroic act. >> i got to about the sixth floor, all of a sudden, this tremendous noise started, went black. the building was shaking, rocking and rolling. we were getting tossed around. i knew the building was collapsing. i thought it was a matter of seconds before we are dead. >> we know there are people trapped here. we need to get them out. >> we are 4 feet under. i don't know. >> all of a sudden, i am laying in blackness and it went deathly silent. i was covered in approximately 6 inches of debris. first few seconds, i thought i was dead.

saw nothing, heard nothing. i was covered. so i called for -- calling may day, calling for help. >> it is my understanding that all the bridges and tunnels in the city are closed. >> this has the signature of osama bin laden, he has piloted on his payroll. to say what's what happened here, but they seem to indicate that this would have that signature. >> they fire -- the fire continues to burn out of control at this hour. no estimates from pentagon officials on the number of dead. >> i felt a shock of the airplane hitting the building. went through the building and then out into the area and they were bringing bodies out that had been injured. >> you don't want people hurt. that's the operational rule that you are focused on, if anybody cried out, calling out. the people were... almost like a

still life. they were intact. it was very different. especially because i had already found a bunch of people who were all burned up. there was this jung woman there. she was in civilian clothes. she was very nicely dressed. her clothes were not burned. her name tag, she was the easiest i.d. i ever did. it was a chain around her neck. and it was just like being hit by a hammer. here was a real person. this is a beautiful young woman. she obviously was going to leave that evening or that morning or something and go out to her life. and she wasn't ever going to do that. >> for a lot of volunteers, were doing a terrific job, helping to bring them out of the buildings. >> the president flew directly here from florida. he is all right. we flew for a couple of hours on air force one. we were not told where we would land until the time came. there were jet fighters accompanying the president's

aircraft. >> make no mistake, the united states will hunt down and and ph those responsible for these cowardly acts. >> by the time that the president had gotten off air force base, nobody was going to tell the president that he couldn't come back. the first thing he said on the teleconference was, i'm coming back tonight. >> the city of new york and the united states of america is much stronger than any group ofbar baric terrorists, that our democracy, that our rule of law and our strength and willingness to defend ourselves will ultimately prevail. >> today was supposed to be an election day, at least a primary runoff day in manhattan, for those who would succeed the mayor. that has been cancelled. >> the hardest thing i have ever had to do to try to maintain composure. i am not trying to sound macho, but i figured if i break down

and cry -- which i was very close to doing a couple of times that day, it is not going to help anybody at home process the information that we are trying to bring them. so i just -- i said a little silent prayer and just tried to keep going. >> i hate to wonder how many of your people were around the base of the twin towers when it began clapts -- collapsing. >> i am very power worried about them and saw some of them rush in and go in and was with them. we were in a building that was trapped for a while. >> thank god that i am safe. i feel terrible for the people we lost, some of whom i talked to just 15 minutes before we lost them. the city's going to survive. we are going to get through it. >> the only thing you can see where from where we were is a big gouges in the earth and broken trees. nothing that you being distinguish that a plane had crashed there.

>> just a few moments ago, world trade center building number 7 collapsed. earlier, we were warned by firefighter sources that the building was in danger. engineers were on the scene and they say that the building was structure structurally very weak. >> all they did was come to work that moirpg. that morning. they didn't come to do battle. >> the people who went to vietnam knew what that they were doing. they were trained for that. you don't expect that, going to work at the pentagon in an office. >> he was already very focused and calm. it was remarkable to me. he was not shaken in that sense. the one moment that i could see the horror in his face and his eyes was when that famous picture of andy heart telling him what happened.

he had remarkable composure and in fact, was rallying other people. >> terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of america. these acts shatter steel. but they cannot dent the steel of american resolve. none of us will ever forget this day. yet we go ford defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. >> what it did was riaffirm to me -- reaffirm to me that this is a country worth living in. and these are people worth defending and that there are things in this world that you had to be willing to die for. >> i see the firefighters and the cops who sacrifice their lives because of

25,000 chicago teachers just moments aq&a from going on strike. this after the teachers' union and district couldn't agree on a new contract before a midnight deadline. the school board president announcing earlier the city made its best offer. negotiations stalled over several issues including health benefits, job security and classroom conditions. the head of the chicago's teachers' union saying they will walk off the job tomorrow morning. >> this is a difficult decision and one we hoped we could have avoided. throughout these negotiations we remained hopeful but determined. we must do things differently in this city if we are to provide our students with the education they so rightfully deserve. >> chicago mayor rahm emanuel

saying the strike is unnecessary and unfair to school children. the teachers plan to be on the picket lines. some schools will be open for a half day to give students a place to go but no classes are planning to be held. chicago is the nation's third largest school district. this will be the first strike in 25 years. and a death sentence for iraq's fugitive sunni vice president triggering deadly attacks in more than a dozen cities. officials say more than 90 people killed and more than 300 wounded. so far no, group is claiming responsibility. iraq's interior ministry is blaming al-qaeda. the vice president fled to turkey. he is charged with being the mastermind behind death squads sent after rivals. the trial fueled sectarian tensions. and a nationalurvey finding gas prices have jumped 8 cents over the past two weeks. the average for premium now at $4.12. triple-a expects prices to drop em